1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an HTTP server, and specifically to an HTTP server for use with a facsimile or scanner or other image input device, in which when an image is input and a file for the image is created, an HTML link to the file is automatically generated by which a remote web browser can retrieve the file through the HTTP server over a TCP/IP network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Use of electronic image input devices, such as scanners, facsimile machines, digital cameras and video cameras, has become increasingly common in recent years. As their use has increased, different techniques have been utilized for distributing image files created by each different type of image input device.
For example, a scanner scans a paper copy of an original document to generate a computerized image file which contains digital binary or multilevel image data representative of the document. Conventionally, the image file is input to a computer workstation and then stored either on the workstation's hard drive or on a computer diskette. Storage on a computer workstation, however, severely limits the accessibility of the scanned image. That is, in order to retrieve the scanned image, a user must physically go to that particular workstation or physically obtain the computer diskette.
Another conventional technique for distributing a scanned image file is to use the workstation to store the file in a directory on a file server which is connected to the same local area network (LAN) as the workstation. In this way, assuming appropriate read access has been granted by the user who created the file, other workstations on the same LAN can also retrieve the scanned image file. Although this technique somewhat increases the pool of users who can easily retrieve the file, as well as the number locations from which it can be retrieved, it too has significant limitations.
One limitation is that a user generally must be on the same LAN as the file server. Thus, for example, a user might only be able to retrieve the file while in his office, but not while at home or while travelling. In addition, it might be desirable to share the file with other people who are geographically distant from the LAN or simply do not have access to it. However, delivering such image files to remote users conventionally has been relatively difficult. Finally, whoever accesses the image file must know the exact name and location of the file on the file server.
Similarly, when a facsimile machine receives a facsimile transmission of a document, one conventional method for distributing the document is to print the document on paper and than manually distribute the paper copy to the intended recipient. Such a distribution system is relatively cumbersome and often results in significant delays between when the facsimile document is received by the facsimile machine and when the paper copy of the document actually reaches the recipient.
An electronic technique for distribution of incoming facsimile documents has recently been proposed. According to this technique, upon receipt of an incoming facsimile transmission, a file containing the facsimile data is created in a commonly accessible or shared directory in a file server.
Although the foregoing technique eliminates problems associated with printing and manually distributing facsimile documents, it also has the problems described above, one of which is the need to know the exact name and location of the file on the file server, before access to the file can be obtained.